Mayapur

Upon our return from Ekachakra to Mayapur at the end of December we prepared for the upcoming courses which I was scheduled to conduct. I had five weeks of teaching ahead of me - Monday to Friday, from 3pm to 6pm. Each week was dedicated to one topic, and each topic was building onto the previous week's seminar. We started with "Giving and Accepting Shelter - The Foundation to Vaisnava Relationships and Devotee Care", which sets the foundation to all further courses. The second week discussed "The Vanaprastha Ashram - Meeting Death With Joy", followed by "Men and Women in Spiritual Culture", and "Marriage in Spiritual Culture". In the fifth week I introduced a new course entitled "Children in Spiritual Culture", which attracted the biggest audience, since I had not offered it before.
All courses were well attended by nice and serious devotees from all around the world - some being part of the Mayapur community, and some simply visiting Mayapur for a shorter period of time. Several disciples of Srila Prabhupada also participated. When senior devotees are present and contribute with comments and questions, it uplifts the entire atmosphere.

The month of January is my favorite time in Mayapur, even though it can be a little cold and foggy in the mornings. During this time of the year Mayapur Dham is not so crowded, and the atmosphere is conducive to studying and being introspective. Devotees come to gain deeper insights into various aspects of devotional life, attending courses and seminars given at the Mayapur Academy or Mayapur Institute. And gradually the word gets around that our Institute for Spiritual Culture is also offering something valuable.

In BG 2.69. Krsna explains: "What is night to all beings is the time of awakening for the self-controlled; and the time of awakening for all beings is night for the introspective sage." So the two cultures are as different as day is from night. We can imagine the day of the materialist being on one end of the spectrum, and the day of the spiritualist on the other, with all kinds of mixtures, shades and grades inbetween. And the process of Krsna consciousness is meant to bring about this transformation, so that the day of the materialist eventually becomes our very night. Only then we are true spiritualists - when we have transformed our tastes, likes and dislikes, etc.
In regards to family life, the day of the materialist relates to grhamedhi life, and the day of the spiritualist corresponds to the grhastha ashram. Inbetween the two is a broad spectrum of shades and grades. Our high divorce rate of 60% makes it very clear that we still have a rather long way to go to actually establish the grhastha ashram. There is no room for divorce in the grhastha ashram. It is part of grhamedhi life. This fact clearly dawned upon me while giving the courses this year. The fact that many ladies stop chanting 16 rounds once they have a child is also not really part of the grhastha ashram. Obviously we are not quite there yet. We are still tending more towards material patterns of behaviors and tastes found in mundane family life.
And it is very natural: it will take time to establish family life as an ashram - a place for cultivation of pure devotional service. It requires systematic training and education. More and more devotees are coming from broken and dysfunctional families and have never even experienced harmonious and healthy family life. We have to train our devotees with the most basic aspects of human behaviour and interpersonal relationships. What used to be common sense fifty years ago and clearly established values and etiquettes within society is now lost and forgotten. Kali Yuga is so rapidly advancing!

Some wonderful events marked this month: on the 12th of January we observed Sri Krishna Pusya Abhiska, where Radha Madhava and the gopis are dressed in a flower outfit, which was especially stunning this year - breath-taking, with an exquisite design: a window into the spiritual world.....
In the evening little Radha Madhava receive an abhishek from flower petals - a "flower shower", accompanied by beautiful chanting in kirtan. The temple room was packed with pilgrims, and it was almost impossible to squeeze in. Then the Mayapur managers came up with a brilliant solution: they announced in Bengali that prasadam was served outside, and everyone got up and left - to make room for the practicing devotees.....!

1st of February marked Vasanta Pancami - the first day of spring, when Radha Madhava were dressed in yellow, with a most wonderful altar decoration: an ocean of yellow flowers creating an amazing pastime place for the Divine couple. All the gopis were emanating a beautiful yellow hue, their bodies being rubbed with tumeric powder.....

A few days later the GBC meetings started, this year with the "Sannyasa-Guru-GBC Sanga". Many wonderful personalities started to arrive in Mayapur, and the morning classes became even more interesting and deep. I frequently received guests for breakfast or lunch in my beautiful place at the goshala - my favorite loving exchange of offering prasadam. Mayapur is my only opportunity where I can reciprocate with all the hospitality which I am receiving throughout the whole year on my travels....

​After Nityananda's appearance, which was again a nice little festival observed with Nityananda Katha in the mornings, and a beautiful abhishek, more and more devotees arrived in Mayapur. And I spontaneously decided to offer a three-session seminar on "The False Ego - Our Constant Companion and Troublemaker." The catchy titly caught attention, and many wonderful devotees attended the lively discussions and highly appreciated it. It is a great introduction into the topic of culture, since materialistic culture is all about feeding and blowing up the false ego, whereas spiritual culture promotes the opposite of subduing and ultimately dissolving it.....


Your servant, Devaki dd